Twenty-seven year old Ocean Hawthorne thought he’d known loss and pain when his twin sister Stormie died. It was his fault the world would no longer see her beautiful smile or hear her captivating laughter. The former world champion in the vicious world of MMA fighting thought he’d been through the worst and has now carried that guilt and pain with him since. Then he met Livie Acosta. The moment he laid his eyes on the exotic beauty, he was hooked. In that split second of looking into her wild and hurt eyes, his heart began to beat again. He knew then that he would never be able to let her go… but was that the right thing for him to do? Because yet again, Ocean found himself surrounded by a familiar darkness, a pain so strong that even breathing hurt, and living felt impossible. He’d pushed too far in the effort to love and help her, and now… now he didn’t know if he’d ever see her again.

Lawrence Hawthorne has been through the ringer when it came to hurt and disappointment, but nothing could have prepared him for the possibility of losing Livie. He’d just found her and now—well, now he didn’t know what to think. To him, Livie was more than just a girl, more than just a friend. To Law, Livie was someone he needed to help and protect, even from herself, and he’d failed that simple task.

Will the Hawthorne cousins who have sworn to protect Livie survive her selfish act, or will they crumble, yet again?

PrologueOceanThe tires of my Range Rover screeched outside as Liv took off, making my skin crawl. It was a given something wasn’tright with Liv, but this wasn’t her typical nervous breakdown behavior. No, this was much worse. I could feel it deep inside of me; the familiar feeling of my life spiraling out of control was beginning to take hold of me. When she asked me to let her go, there was so much more meaning behind those words. She wasn’t just having a panicattack; Liv was acting out of desperation, and I know exactly what people are capable of when they act out of desperation. Fuck this shit! If I was going to let her say goodbye to me, we were going down together!“Law! Law, we need to go now! Where the hell are you?”Walking around the maze of a studio,my nerves were unraveling with each passing second. Turning the corner, I punched the wall, my fist going straight through the dry wall.“What the fuck asshole! I was taking a fucking piss. What the hell was that for?”“We need to go. Something’s not right with Liv, and I’m not staying here. Socome with me or stay I don’t give a shit, but I’m leaving.”He looked me up and down, then back to the hole I just put through the wall.“Yeah, I’m coming with you. Head out, I’ll lock up the back and be right out.”I turned around, walking away before he even finished his sentence. I needed Liv in my arms; I needed to see she was okay. The drive to our condo was the longest fucking drive ever. I jumped in my seat when my cell phone went off with Liv’s ringtone. I pulled it out quickly, answering it on the first ring.“Baby, you okay? I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to get pissed. Baby?”All I could make out were the haunting screams and cries coming out of Liv. Her voice was hoarse and strained as ifshe had been screaming for hours. I heard her say goodbye in between her screams and then a loud crash on the other end. My heart wanted to bust out of my chest and I wanted to fucking beat the shit out of Law for driving so fucking slow!“FUCK LAW, DRIVE FASTER, GO GO GO!”I said kicking the shit out of his dashboard.The next turn Law took, the truck nearly tipped over. I punched the gate opener busting the gadget to shreds. As the gate started to open slow as fuck, I jumped out of the truck and took off running. The adrenaline, pain, fear, and hate shredding my veins open was afeeling I experienced not too long ago.They were the same feelings I had after my bike accident as I held my sisters dying body in my arms on the side of the road. I flew up the stairs, not seeing or feeling anything except for my need to get to Liv before I was too late. I couldn’t let her die too; I wouldn’t survive it.Tears started pouring from my eyes on their own. When I reached our door, I kicked it open without a secondthought. The smell and the sight of blood knocked the little wind I had left in my lungs out of me. My body burned in its entirety as I took in in the site of Liv up against the wall on the floor cutting herself with a big ass piece of glass. When she pulled her wrist out in front of her, I snapped out of my shock, but was too slow. She dug the shard of glass deep into her wrist slicing upwards. When she got to her elbow,she turned white and fell over.“No, baby no! Livie… Livie open your eyes. LAW CALL THE FUCKING AMBULANCE! Don’t leave me baby;please, I can’t fucking lose you too. LAW! I won’t make it Livie. Fuck you for doing this! I love you Livie, don’t leave me, please!”

My name is Melissa DeOlmos, a newbie to the world of indie writing. I live in sunny side Palm Bay, Florida with my two lovely crazies ages five and two, along with my Law Enforcement champ of a husband. I could say that writing novels has been a passion that I've always pursued, but I can't. Writing for me has always been my own secret escape into a land of wonders, opportunities, loves and so much trouble that I sometimes wonder if I need medication for the stories that pop into my head. I am now deciding to share my mystical mind and stories with the world, so that hopefully others may also find that little something extra they've been looking for. Thank you, and I hope you enjoy my books.